Western Tanager

Male and female Western Tanagers present different coloring in their feathers with the male showing bright yellow and orange.

NPS/J. Ruffner

Brightly colored male Western Tanagers boast colors of bright yellow, orange, black, and white while their female counterpart is a much duller yellow and grey. Keeping a keen eye out for flying insects such as beetles, grasshoppers, and cicadas the birds wait for their next meal.

A pair of western tanagers will build a nest high, 15-50 feet, in the fork of a horizonal branch of a tree, well out of the reach of many predators. The nest, made of twigs and grass, and lined with soft animal hair will serve as a temporary roost. The bluish green eggs with brown spots incubate for about 12 days. After hatching, the young are fed by both parents until they are ready to fledge, a process that takes about 2 weeks.

Western Tanagers migrate from late Spring to early Fall and can be found in the western United States, Mexico and Canada.